A police officer who warned Ian Huntley was a "serial sex attacker" three years before he murdered Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman was giving evidence to the Soham inquiry today.

Pc Michael Harding identified Huntley as a danger in a Humberside police intelligence report in 1999 and warned he would strike again.

But his report was erased by the force a year later - 17 months before Huntley was cleared to become a school caretaker in Soham, Cambridgeshire.

The deletion of the memo was one of a series of blunders outlined as the Bichard Inquiry opened in London to investigate flaws in vetting procedures and police intelligence handling which allowed Huntley to get his job.

In his damning intelligence report, Pc Harding said: "It is quite clear that Huntley is a serial sex attacker and is at liberty to continue his activities."